Ten Years Total
by SylverEyes
Summary: Beck and Tori find their way around college and realize that there are some things about high school that they can't leave behind.


The lack of Beck/Tori stories in this fandom horrifies me, and considering it's my new OTP, I figure I can help out with this problem! Also fluff, because they don't have enough of that. Read and enjoy!

* * *

It was a moment of passion. A moment of I-may-never-see-you-again-and-you're-my-best-friend heat. Their lips met in a sloppy kiss that tasted like vanilla while their backs met his bed. It was clumsy and awkward like nothing else in their relationship was. He couldn't get her bra off and she got the zipper of his jeans caught in the fabric. And when the moment finally came he couldn't find the right angle and she had to guide him to her. They slipped and fumbled with legs and fingers and nearly rolled off the mattress at one point. When they were done, they avoided each other's eyes and covered their naked bodies with discarded bits of clothing.

She had been curious and he had been hurting, and now they were going to be separated by nearly an entire country.

* * *

It was hard to believe how many colleges and universities there were to choose from. She mostly kept in touch with Andre although she made an attempt with everyone at the beginning. But they were all getting their own lives, and it was hard to find a time when Berkeley and NYU could chat. Whenever she went through her contacts and came across his name, she put her hand to the hollow of her throat where the ghost of a searing kiss still lingered. She kissed a few boys at school and dated a few others, but nothing ever blossomed, and she found she didn't need it to. Her newly intensified study at school was distraction enough.

* * *

Cat got out of school first and was waiting for her when she pulled up into her driveway with that ever-present smile and a hug.

There was surprisingly little talk of classes and campuses and professors. It was a sizzling 104 degrees and the two girls decided to throw on some bikinis and run through the sprinkler. The water raised lovely goose bumps on their arms and soon they were laughing like seven-year-olds. Their gaiety was interrupted by a familiar silky soft voice.

"Could I join you?"

"Beck!" shrieked Cat, running to welcome him. He hugged her tight while the other girl stood there, unable to decide what she felt about this.

"Tori," Beck greeted, an arm around Cat's shoulders as he approached.

She felt mud between her toes and grass scratching at her legs for attention. Water gently landed in droplets on her body and soaked hair, evaporating almost as soon as they appeared, and all of a sudden she felt like a lost high school freshman again.

She had forgotten that he would be returning too.

Tori didn't know what she had expected. Beck had walked out of her life a boy of eighteen with sun-tanned skin and sweeping hair. Here was this man with a goatee, new clothes and worry lines between his eyes. She could hardly believe there was less than a year's difference between the two images. Now he talked of Shakespeare and intense method acting and snow that piled up so high you couldn't leave your dorm.

"You look different, Tori," she said to her while they watched Cat play video games where she tried to feed all the monkeys bananas instead of completing the missions.

"I do?" and even her voice sounded stupid.

"Yeah," he caught a lock of hair between his fingers. "You've straightened it,"

* * *

He no longer had a trailer in his parents' driveway so when Tori showed up they took refuge in the basement with soda cans and pretzels. Their talk was stiff now like they were trying to be older and more mature than they were. Important things, things they really needed to talk about, were avoided.

But Beck was still as sarcastic as ever and when Tori's hand ended up on his shoulder as she laughed at a story, something was broken and they touched each other. He brushed her leg with his fingers and she leaned her head on his shoulder and they're Beck and Tori again and it felt nice. She's missed it.

* * *

The summer is over far too soon in flashes of pools, late night walks and dancing. All of a sudden they have a week and it hits her while they were lying on their backs listening to the humming of insects and watching the sky.

"I missed you," he said. He was clean-shaven again which was funny because she had been teasing him just the other day about how scruffy he looked.

"Oh," Beck had always been pretty open with his feelings, something that shouldn't have still surprised Tori but did.

"Oh?"

She hated it when she said things before thinking. "I've missed you too Beck,"

"Good. For a second I thought I would have to find a new best friend,"

She didn't think that term still applied to them.

* * *

She was ready the next year for their meeting, and this time she showed up at his house, ready with a 100-watt smile and a run-and-jump hug. He spun her around in the air and Tori couldn't help but think that this is how life should be.

And then Jade stepped out of the passenger's side.

* * *

That summer was different. Jade was clingy in a way that would have made Beck uncomfortable if he hadn't dated her for nearly five years. Tori's heart sank as she watched and was ousted from her claim to the couch in Beck's basement, her monopoly over the pink lemonade, the talks so full of Beck that she desperately needed after so much west coast sun. He seemed perfectly content with Jade's short, dyed hair, her lack of heavy makeup and this acidic air she seemed to have picked up that was more intentionally stinging than overtly bitter now.

Jade still didn't like her, which was okay with Tori because she was still a bitch, but she was interrupting the Tori and Beck, Beck and Tori and well fuck that because he is not her property and if he wants to have a summer fling with his ex-girlfriend he should knock himself out because she doesn't give a shit and she has Robbie and Andre and Cat and Trina and her summer will be perfectly fan-fucking-tastic without BeckandTori, ToriandBeck.

* * *

"So, you and Jade broke up before freshman year…?"

Beck didn't choke on what he was eating, but he clenched the glass and breathed heavily through his nose. It was one of those things that they didn't talk about, but she had brought it up and there was no going back now so she just had to see how he would react—

"Yeah," he said, putting the cup down. "It was mutual," he added hastily as though he could tell from her face that she thought he might break apart into a thousand pieces at any second. "We didn't want to do long distance."

"And she seems okay…"

"Yeah, she was—is—fine."

"You were all torn up…"

"Tori…"

"And you know, you were in a place where you were kind of weak and I was there and..."

"Tori, don't."

"But I mean… is that why-?"

"_Tori_."

And they didn't say anything else because that was the voice where you don't keep going, you don't mention that any more, that was Beck's Stop Right There voice and Tori wasn't curious enough to make him relive that painful memory.

* * *

He bought a junk heap to drive around in for the next summer, since his RV was no longer available for transportation. It was falling apart and it smelled pretty funky and it got terrible gas mileage, but it was a car and Tori nearly squealed when she saw it, hopping into the back seat with her bags of towels, snacks and beverages. Cat gave her a bone-shattering hug and Andre greeted her with his usual nod of friendship. Robbie was sitting in the front seat with Jade squished in next to him.

It was time for the beach, and Tori tried not to watch the back of Beck's neck as he drove, or the way his hair blew into her eyes when she leaned forward. And she really tried not to smell his scent while she wrapped her arms around his shoulders to pretend that she was going to cover his eyes while he was driving.

If anyone noticed, they didn't say anything which Tori was incredibly grateful for, because even though she loved taking her acting courses at school, something about Beck brought out her most amateur moves.

At the beach they set their towels down next to each other to make one big blanket and stretched out in the sun with their glasses full of pink lemonade. They watched Robbie flinch away from the water when he touched it, and Cat dragging Jade into the waves while Andre was already waist deep, asking what everyone was waiting for.

It was sunny and hot and they were laughing and joking and talking and her head ended up between his shoulder and chest and his arm somehow found its way around her shoulders and they fit so perfectly together and even though Jade is sending her looks like she wants her to die and Cat is giggling into her hand as though no one can see it, Tori feels centered and tranquil and perfect and Beck's eyes are gorgeous why hadn't she ever noticed that before?

She shuffled closer and he held her tighter and they could still claim that they were just best friends because they were both kind of touchy-feely anyway.

* * *

This time Tori's backyard and her hammock felt the wrath of the last-week BeckandTori summer shenanigans. It was a bit of a tight fit but they were determined and once they settled, they had the perfect vantage point to watch as many stars as would come out in a smoggy city.

And in between their tired, drunken laughter and slaps on each other's arms they grew silent and stared upwards, with nothing to say, or maybe too much to say, or maybe Beck got hard lemonade this time instead of regular because she couldn't really keep her head in the right place and maybe it's just when she's around Beck but that's dumb because she's known Beck for six years and she shouldn't get butterflies when she's around him—

She flopped over onto his stomach and planted a kiss firmly on his lips, although without quite enough coordination to make it go anywhere. Her friend is silent and stunned with stiff arms and wide eyes and she tries to whisper in his ear but it's more like a giggle:

"I haven't tried to get high since I had you,"

There were flashbacks to basements with Jade and Cat and items she didn't know the name of and a fuzzy feeling in her head and a taste that she didn't like and maybe she wasn't supposed to be doing this what is happening—

Beck said nothing but he relaxed and even in her half-sensible state Tori could see that she had answered a question that had been weighing on his mind for a long time. She slid back onto her own back and smiled blearily and interlaced her fingers with his.

He didn't lean over to kiss her back but he didn't move away and Tori felt like something had been accomplished. They slept in the hammock that night.

* * *

Beck had to leave first to catch his plane and Tori didn't know what to say to him because unfortunately she had a very distinct memory of what happened in the hammock and what do you say to someone who you practically lip-rape?

Beck didn't mention it so she followed his lead and gave him a hug goodbye while he stood outside with his parents in the car and all of his luggage stuffed into the backseat and trunk.

"I'll miss you. Again," he breathed into her hair and her heart leapt into her throat.

"I'll miss you too," she echoed.

* * *

He found her in her house, on her bed reading a book and she was shocked as he jumped on top of her, pinning her to the comforter with, she could claim, the best hug that she had ever experienced. Her laugh was pushed out of her lungs with all the air she had in her body, but as soon as she realized what was going on, she returned the ribcage squeeze and rolled him off of her bed.

"Where has my Tori Vega been for the past school year, hm?" he asked from where he had his nose buried into her neck.

She laughed and shrugged her shoulders and struggled up onto her knees, trying to pull his one hundred and sixty pounds of muscle and height up with her and couldn't help but replay that she was _his_ Tory Vega, his.

Tori can't stop smiling, because they just graduated from college, they have job offers, and they can do what they want with their lives now. They can do anything they want and Tori Vega is going to take over the world, she's going to burst onto the scene as an actor, as a singer, and everyone will know her name.

But right now all she can think of is that Beck is home and she should have gone to school with him why didn't she that was so, so stupid—

And he kissed her. His lips were soft and he was like vanilla, just like she remembered and her heart grew in her chest she closed her eyes and pulled away and wanted to say something like "you're amazing" or "why?" or "I love you" and instead she doesn't think before she speaks and come out with:

"I've been waiting for that."

"Oh have you? Why am I always attracted to arrogant bitches?"

Tori tried to hit him but he was Beck and he caught her wrist and pulled her close and she thought that he was going to kiss her again but all he did was pull her down the stairs and outside into the hot weather and breathed into her ear as he pulled her by him—"you taste like California sunshine"—and into the car to the beach and all she could think was that this day should never end.

* * *

They were trying to enjoy their summer while attempting to find temporary jobs to get them by. Most days were spent out in the open air, while the nights were full of cuddling up on a couch and watching movies, or going out to dance.

They were building a sandcastle when Beck planted a kiss on Tori's collar bone that sent shivers down her spine and said, "I think we should have a repeat of four years ago,"

Those words sent heat straight down into her navel and she glanced at him out of the side of her eyes. "Oh you do? I can't say that I'll blow your mind," and her cheeks flushed red because you are not supposed to tell someone that you won't be very good in bed could she please take those words back?

He laughed and wrapped his arms around her. "Well I can't say that I was the most incredible strategist when we were fooling around before,"

"Yeah, that surprised me considering how long you and Jade were dating…" Tori leaned back into his chest and breathed deeply.

"Jade and I never got there. Ever. Tori… you were my first."

At that moment, she didn't think she could be happier, and Beck found himself buried in the sand with his new girlfriend on top of him and sand in his mouth, but he couldn't really say that he cared.

* * *

Winters and snow had grown on Beck, and it took nearly everything that she had to convince him that they should stay in the city in California. In the end, it was the argument that he would have a lot of job opportunities there than back on the east coast or up somewhere like Michigan.

They rented an apartment and it was tiny and pretty gross and their landlord was not a nice person but they were _living _together and Beck already had an agent and was looking at scripts for plays and movies and Tori didn't care that it is hard to break into the music business because they are together. They are together.

* * *

And three years later Tori and Beck are visiting her cousins in Pennsylvania, making snowmen and having hot chocolate because they like having the week or so of real snow. They're taking a walk in the brisk air and she is clutching his arm and laughing while his other hand is in his pocket, fiddling with a small velveteen box.

Beck is going to propose as soon as they get to a bench to sit down on.

Tori is going to say yes.


End file.
